Mounting means for contact members



Jan. 27, 1959 c. J. MAHLER ET AL 2,

MOUNTING MEANS FOR coumc'r MEMBERS Filed April 4, 1957 .2 m mm my.

mm mu m NN mm m n. N. 9 Q s 2 8 INVENTORS Charles J. Mahler and MarshallWhite.

WW ATTORNEY United States Patent MOUNTING MEANS FOR CONTACT MEMBERSCharles J. Mahler, Snyder, and Marshall P. White, Cheektowaga, N. Y.,assignors to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, East Pittsburgh, Pa., acorporation of Pennsylvania Application April 4, 1957, Serial No.650,693

7 Claims. ((11.200-166) Our invention relates, generally, to mountingmeans for contact members and, more particularly, to spacers forauxiliary contact members of switching devices and A device may besupplied with one or more sets of each type of contacts depending on therequirements of the system in which it is utilized. It is desirable thatthe auxiliary contacts be so mounted that they can be readily changedfrom one type to the other to meet the requirements of the system inwhich the device is utilized.

A copending application of C. J. Mahler, M. P. White, and R. B. lmmel,Serial No. 623,566, filed November 21, 1956, describes a means formounting auxiliary contact members which permits them to be readilychanged from one type to another type. In the structure disclosed in theaforesaid application a bridging member, which spans a pair ofstationary spaced contact members, is reversibly mounted on a guidemember composed of a resilient material and having a bifurcated endwhich extends through an opening in the cross bar of a contactor. Theprongs of the guide member have projections on their outer edges whichengage the cross bar at the bottom of the opening to secure the guidemember in the cross bar. The bridging member may be reversed to changefrom a normally open to a normally closed type of auxiliary contact, orvice versa, by interchanging a spacing sleeve and a spring on the guidemember.

An object of our invention is to provide an improved spacer forutilization on a contact guide member.

Another-object of our invention is to provide a spacer for a contactguide member which is self-locking on the guide member.

A further object of our invention is to provide a contact assemblyhaving a bridging member, a spacer and a spring which may be readilychanged on a guide member to provide either a normally closed assemblyor a normally open assembly.

Other objects of our invention will be explained fully hereinafter orwill be apparent to those skilled in the art.

In accordance with one embodiment of our invention, a generallycylindrical spacer for a contact assembly is preferably molded fromnylon and has a groove across the diameter at one end of the cylinder.Two diametrically opposed spherical projections are molded on the insideof thespacer near the end having the groove. The guide member on whichthe contact assembly is mounted has two spherical depressions on eachside or a total of four depressions. The resilient property of the nylonon the spacer engage the other pair of depressions in the guide.

For a better understanding of the nature and objects of our invention,reference may be had to the following detailed description, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a View, in left elevation, of a portion of a switchingdevice and showing a normally open contact assembly embodying theprincipal features of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view, in front elevation of the switching device and showingnormally open and normally closed contact assemblies;

Fig. 3 is a view, in right elevation, of the switching device andshowing a normally closed contact assembly;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view, partly in section and partly in frontelevation, of a contact guide and a spacer provided for a normally opencontact assembly;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view, partly in section and partly in sideelevation, of the contact guide and the spacer for anormally closedcontact assembly;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged view, in top plan, of the spacer;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view, in section, taken along the line VIIVII inFig. 6;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged view, in bottom plan, of the spacer, and

Fig. 9 is an enlarged view, in bottom plan, of the contact guide member.

Referring to the drawing, and particularly to Fig. 1, th normallyopenauxiliary contact assembly shown therein comprises a carrier orcross bar 111, a pair of spaced'stationary contact members 12 and 13which may be mount ed on a relay or contactor 10, only a portion ofwhich is shown, a bridging member 14 having contact members 15 and 16thereon for engaging the stationary contact members 12 and 13,respectively, a guide member 17 for supporting the bridging member 14,and a spacing sleeve 18 and a spring 19 disposed on the guide member 17at oppositesides of the member 14. j

The carrier on cross bar 11 may be molded from any suitable insulatingmaterial, and it may be utilized for supporting main contact members ofthe relay or contactor as well as other auxiliary contact members inaddition to those shown. The carrier 11 may be attached to actuatingmeans (not shown) for the contactor in any suitable manner. Thus, theauxiliary contact members are actuated in conjunction withthe maincontact members of the relay or contactor.

As shown, a recess 22 is provided in one corner of the carrier 11. Araised portion 23 is provided on the top of the carrier 11 over therecess 22. As described in the and the groove in the spacer permit thespacer to be pushopen. to normally closed, or vice versa, the.projections aforesaid copending'application, a generally rectangularopening extends through the raised portion 23 into the recessed portion22 of the carrier 11. As shown most clearly in Figs. 4 and S, thecontact guide member 17 has a generally rectangular portion 24 which isdisposed in the opening in the carrier 11. The lower end of the guide 17is bifurcated and each prong 25' has an angularly disposed projection 26thereon. The upper surface of the projection 26 is preferably at anangle of approximately 30 to the surface of the carrier 11 which itengages at the bottom 'of the opening in the carrier. The guide 17 has ashoulder 27 which engages the top surface of the raised portion 23 atthe top of the opening in the carrier. Thus, the guide member 17 iswedged in the opening'and is held securely in place.

is desired to remove the guide member 17, it may be forced upwardly bymeans of a suitable tool.

As shown more clearly in Figs. 4 and 5, the guide member 17 has anintegrally formed head 28 on its upper end. As shown in Fig. l thespacing sieeve 13 is disposed 'on the guide member between the head 28and the bridging member 14 which is slidably disposed on the guidemember. The spring 19 is disposed on the guide member between thebridging member 14 and the top surface of the raised portion 23 of thecarrier 11. When the carrier 11 is moved vertically, the contact members15 and 16 engage the stationary contact members 12 and 13, respectively,and the spring 19 is compressed to maintain a predetermined contactpressure between the contact members.

The contact assembly shown in Fig. 3 is of the normally closed type. Itis similar in structure to the assembly shown in Fig. 1. However, thebridging member 14 is reversed and placed above the stationary contactmembers 12 and 13. The spacing sleeve 18 and the spring 19 areinterchanged, the spring 19 being between the bridgingmember 14 and thehead 28 of the guide 17, and the spacing sleeve 18 being between thebridging member and the raised portion 23 of the carrier 11. The contactmembers 15 and 16 engage the contact members 12 and 13, respectively,when the carrier 11 is in its lowermost portion and are disengaged fromthe contact members 12 and 13 when the carrier 11 is raised verticallyby the actuating means of the contactor.

As explained in the aforesaid copending application, the contactassembly may be changed from one type to the other by reversing thebridging member 14 and interchanging the spacer 18 and the spring 19.Thus, the contact assemblies may be changed after the device isoriginally assembled and installed by removing the guide member 17 fromthe carrier 11, reversing the bridging member and interchanging thespacer and the spring, and then reinserting the guide member 17 in thecarrier.

In order to prevent the spacer from sliding up and down on the guideduring contact operation and also to prevent the contact assemblies frombecoming disassembled after they are assembled in the desired relation,it is desirable to provide a means for retaining the spacing sleeve 18in its correct position on the guide 17 As shown, the spacer 18 isgenerally cylindrical in shape and is preferably molded from nylonwhich, as explained hereinbefore, is a good insulator and hasexceptional wearing qualities and resilience. As shown most clearly inFigs. 6 and 7, the sleeve 18 has a diametrically disposed groove 31across one end. The groove 31 extends partway up the length of thesleeve 18. Two oppositely disposed spherical projections 32 are moldedon the inside of the spacer 18 near the end having the groove 31. Theguide member 17 has two spherical depressions 33 molded on each sidemaking a total of four depressions in all.

The spacer 18 may be installed on the guide 17 by pushing the spaceronto the guide, thereby forcing the groove 31 to open slightly. Thespacer is pushed onto the guide until the spherical projections 32 onthe spacer engage one pair of the spherical depressions on the guide 17.The resilientproperty of the nylon, or other resilient material, causesthe projections to snap into the depressions, thereby retaining thespacer in position.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 4, when the contact assembly is of the normallyopen type, the spacer 18 is disposed at the top of the contact guide 17and the projections 32 on thespacer engage the top pair of depressions33 in the guide 17. The spring 19 is disposed below the bridging member14.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 5, when the contact assembly is of the normallyclosed type, the spacer 18 is disposed below the bridging member 14 andthe projections 32 on the spacer engage the lower pair of depressions 33in the contact guide 17. It will be noted that, as shown in Fig. 5, thespacer 18 is turned end for end from the position shown in Fig. 4. Thespring 19 is disposed above the bridging member 14 as shown in Fig. 3.

As previously explained, a contact assembly may be readily changed fromone type to the other by reversing the bridging member 14 andinterchanging the positions of the spacer 18 and the spring 19. Theresiliency of the material of which the spacer 18 is composed permitsthe spacer to be removed from the guide 17. As previously explained, theresiliency of the material of which the guide 17 is composed permits theguide to be removed from the carrier 11 in order to make the desiredchange in the contact assembly. However, the spacer 18 is normallyretained in its correct position on the guide 17 by means of theprojections 32 and the depressions 33, thereby preventing the spacerfrom sliding on the guide during contact operation and also preventingthese members from becoming separated.

From the foregoing descriptions, it is apparent that we have provided aninexpensive, simple and effective means of retaining the members of acontact assembly together.

The elimination of small parts and screws reduces the time required toassembly the members and also reduces the space required for the contactassembly when it is installed on an electrical device. Furthermore, theapparatus is safer electrically since the insulation and creepagedistance between live parts of the assembly is increased.

Since numerous changes may be made in the abovedescribed construction,and diiierent embodiments of the invention may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope thereof, it is intended that all mattercontained in the foregoing description or shown in the accompanyingdrawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

We claim as our invention:

1. in a contact assembly, in combination, a pair of spaced stationarycontact members, a bridging member having spaced contact members thereonfor engaging said stationary contact members, a movable carrier, a guidemember removably mounted on the carrier, said bridging member beingreversibly mounted on the guide member, a spring removably mounted onthe guide member at one side of the bridging member, a separategenerally cylindrical spacer disposed on the guide member at the otherside of the bridging member, a projection on the spacer frictionallyengaging the guide member to removably retain the spacer on the guidemember, and said spring and said spacer being interchangeable inposition on the guide member when the bridging member is reversed.

2. A contact supporting means comprising a movable carrier, a guidemember removably mounted on the carrier, a bridging contact memberreversibly mounted on the guide member, a coil spring disposed on theguide member at one side of the biidging member, a separate generallycylindrical spacer disposed on the guide member at the other side of thebridging member, said spacer having an internal projection thereonfrictionally engaging the guide member to releasably retain the spacerat a predetermined position on the guide member, and said spring andsaid spacer being interchangeable in position on the guide member whenthe bridging member is reversed.

3. A contact supporting means comprising a movable carrier, a guidemember removably mounted on the carrier, a bridging contact memberreversibly mounted on the guide member, a coil spring disposed on theguide member at one side of the bridging member, a generally cylindricalspacer disposed on the guide member at the other side of the bridgingmember, said spacer being composed of a resilient material and having agroove across one end, an internal projection on the spacer near thegrooved end, said projection frictionally engaging the guide member toreleasably retain the spacer at a predetermined position on the guidemember, and said spring and said spacer being interchangeable inposition on the guide member when the bridging member is reversed.

4. A contact supporting means comprising a movable carrier, a guidemember removably mounted on the carrier, a bridging contact memberreversibly mounted on the guide member, a coil spring disposed 'on theguide member at one side of the bridging member, a generally cylindricalspacer disposed on the guide member at the other side of the bridgingmember, said spacer being composed of a resilient material and having agroove across one end, an internal projection on the spacer near thegrooved end, a depression in the guide member, said projection beingbiased into said depression by the resiliency of the spacer toreleasably retain the spacer at a predetermined position on the guidemember, and said spring and said spacer being interchangeable inposition on the guide member when the bridging member is reversed.

5. A contact supporting means comprising a movable carrier, a guidemember removably mounted on the carrier, a bridging contact memberreversibly mounted on the guide member, a coil spring disposed on theguide member at one side of the bridging member, a generally cylindricalspacer disposed on the guide member at the other side of the bridgingmember, said spacer being composed of a resilient material and having agroove across one end, an internal projection on the spacer nearcarrier, a bridging contact member reversibly mounted on the guidemember, a coil spring disposed on the guide member at one side of thebridging member, a generally cylindrical spacer disposed on the guidemember at the other side of the bridging member, said spacer beingcomposed of a resilient material and having a diametrically disposedgroove across one end, oppositely disposed internal projections on thespacer near the grooved end, two pairs of oppositely disposeddepressions in the guide member spaced longitudinally of the guidemember, said projections being disposed in one pair of said depressionswhen the spacer is on one side of the bridging member, and saidprojections being in the other pair of depressions when the bridgingmember is reversed and the spacer and the spring are interchanged inposition on the guide member.

7. In a contact assembly, in combination, a pair of spaced stationarycontact members, a bridging member having spaced contact members thereonfor engaging said stationary contact members, a movable carrier, a guidemember removably mounted on the carrier, said bridging member beingreversibly mounted on the guide member, a coil spring disposed on theguide member at one side of the bridging member, a generally cylindricalspacer disposed on the guide member at the other side of the bridgingmember, said spacer being composed of a resilient material and having agroove across one end, an internal projection on the spacer near thegrooved end, at least two depressions in the guide member spacedlongitudinally of the guide member, said projections being disposed inone of said depressions when the spacer is on one side of the bridgingmember, and said projection being in another one of said depressionswhen the bridging member is reversed and the spacer and the spring areinterchanged in position on the guide member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,433,710 Schleicher Dec. 30, 1947

